1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a controller, a program product, and a storage medium, and more particularly to a controller, a program product, and a recording medium preferably used for controlling a plurality of home appliances in cooperation.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, a so-called network household electrical system for controlling home appliances via an in-home network has been proposed and standardized. In this system, a controller such as a home server is connected to an in-home network. This controller transmits a control command to control an objective apparatus. Here, communication between the controller and the home appliances is performed using a communication protocol such as ECHONET, UPnP, or SCP. A power supply line for supplying power, a wireless communication network, or the like is used for a communication network. As an example of a structure of such a network household electrical system, for example, a network system described in JP 10-276478 A is known.
In such a network household appliance system, it is important how smoothly a control rule can be set with respect to the respective appliances present on the network. The system is targeted for general users, so that it should be simple to any user. In particular, for setting a control rule for controlling appliances, it is necessary that a complicated operation is minimized, and the control rule can be set with a simple operation.
Furthermore, in the future, it is expected that a new kind of appliance will be developed and commercialized, which has not been obtained conventionally, and connected to an in-home network. It is also necessary to configure a system so that the appliance can be controlled smoothly even in such a case.
Furthermore, depending upon the life scene such as setting of a plurality of air conditioners in the same room, those appliances may be preferably controlled in cooperation, compared with the previously assumed control. It is necessary to configure a system so as to smoothly control appliances in cooperation in accordance with the use form even in such a case.